Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
ڠكه محضير: ديليما سبنر يڠ سموا ترلڤس ڤندڠ…
This article paints a first stage scenario of what’s truly going on. The purpose it is written is to help put things into proper perspective as I can’t stand to see how presumptuous and prejudiced people get when reading politics.
I’ll try to keep it as concise and as simple as possible:
1. The Statutory Declarations in support of Mahathir
The whole episode began when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s camp succeeded in amassing a handsome number of Statutory Declarations in support of his continued leadership as Prime Minister of Malaysia. For the purpose of this article, we will label the “collection of the SDs” as “Platform Number one.”
2. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong meets Members of Parliament
The purpose of this phase was for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to assess the legitimacy of claims made by MPs who signed the SDs that they supported Mahathir. For the purpose, the ruler met all MPs, one by one, to obtain feedback from them and to gauge their position on circumstances. We shall call this “Platform Number Two.”
3. Agong decides that there should be a special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat
Because there were discrepancies between what was stated in the SDs and the testimonies delivered by certain MPs to the Agong, it was decided that a new platform was needed to obtain another tally, in accordance with tenets of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. As such, the Agong decided that the third platform would be the Dewan Rakyat by means of a special sitting.
We shall refer to this as “Platform Number Three.”
4. Dewan Rakyat Speaker says no to special sitting
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has since consented to the Dewan Rakyat speaker’s decision to not call for a special sitting on the 2nd of March 2020. According to reports, Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof had announced that he could not allow the sitting sought by Interim Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad because it did not comply with Standing Order 11 (3).
This effectively means there will be no “Platform Number Three,” meaning, there are two separate results pertaining to Mahathir’s position as Prime Minister:
a. Platform Number One, where Mahathir has a big majority, and
b. Platform Number Two, where no MP got a majority
5. The ball is back in the Agong’s court
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has not called for a “New Platform Number One” to do another round of assessments. Technically, this means that the ruler is now at liberty to decide if he wants to use the results of the existing Platform Number One (SDs) and declare Mahathir as the eighth Prime Minister or if he wants to use the results of Platform Number Two to keep Mahathir as Interim Prime Minister or dissolve the Dewan Rakyat.
6. MPs are trying to create a “New Platform Number One”
Even though the Agong has not called for it, MPs from both sides of the political devide are collecting fresh SDs, with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin being the PPBM-UMNO-PAS bloc’s Prime Minister candidate and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim being the PKR-DAP-AMANAH bloc’s nominee.
Problem is, when Mahathir was candidate, he got a handsome number of SDs, far beyond a simple majority, and left Anwar relatively dry of numbers. Yet, when some of the MPs who signed the SDs met the Agong, they backstabbed Mahathir.
With Muhyiddin in the picture, both Anwar and he are practically neck-to-neck in the race, meaning, Mahathir was a stronger candidate than Muhyiddin is.
7. Will the Agong create a New Platform Number Two?
Assuming that the Agong agrees to the new “SD collection drive,” this will become the “New Platform Number One,” meaning, the Agong will need to meet MPs all over again once he receives all the SDs. Question is, will the Agong ever do that since he has yet to even announce formally that he wants a fresh batch of SDs?
And even if he does, what guarantee will there be that the MPs who meet His Royal Highness will not backstab Muhyiddin the way they backstabbed Mahathir, who clearly had more SDs than Muhyiddin can ever hope to gain? Why should the Agong go for a New Platform Number Once when he already has the results of an existing Platform Number One?
Now do you understand what’s going on?
I think team Muhyiddin has jumped the gun…
There is more to the story, but I refuse to discuss anything else lest I confuse the rakyat further.
